Hands down, one of the finest and rarest Collings dread's we've sold.
The brainchild of TME's founder, Stu Cohen, to commemorate his 40 years in music retail, this D3 Custom represents a tireless collaboration with wood suppliers, inlay artists and of course, Bill Collings, to come up with what was arguably one of Collings' most distinctive and, to our knowledge, their only limited run of guitars built to this date.
Built as a series of 13 total guitars, this D3 was 1 of 3 dreadnoughts in the mix, all made with hand-picked AAA Brazilian rosewood, super rare snakewood, premium Adirondack spruce and finished with Collings lustrous varnish formulation. The unique inlays were designed and executed by renowned inlay artist and banjo builder, Doug Unger.
The sound rivals the best Brazilian dreadnoughts we've heard from any builder. Having been a part of this initial launch in 2008, I can recall being impressed with this guitar upon its completion. However, I wasn't prepared to hear how mature and evolved it has become. Those who have owned and enjoyed other Brazilian Collings I am sure will concur. I'll forgo any of the common descriptors and only say this is one in about 30,000!
The condition is outstanding. Varnish is a very thin finish and will typically shrink and sink into the grain lines and center seam crevices. 100% normal and this D3 shows a little bit of that. There's a also some minor witness marks from a pick near the top bass side upper bout. Comes priced with black Calton case from 2014.
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